Violet J. Stark 1938 - 2005

U. of C. research tech a quiet giant in field

Friends of Violet J. Stark recall a shy person whose intellect found a home with a pioneering research team at the University of Chicago and whose clear soprano was heard in several choruses.

Some knew of her affection for cats and how she adopted felines of elderly church members who could no longer care for them. Others shared her amusement in Walt Disney movies, of which she amassed a large collection.

After graduating from the University of Chicago in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in education, she joined its hospital as a ward clerk.

As her career evolved, she took science classes at Roosevelt University and became the chief technologist in the university's nuclear medicine section in the department of radiology. By the mid-1970s, she was a chief technologist in the institute, an organization that conducted research on the use of radioisotopes for biomedical research and clinical applications. She retired in 1998.

During her career, she worked with university's researchers who included the late Dr. Paul V. Harper, a professor in the surgery and radiology departments who pioneered diagnostic and therapeutic uses of radiation, and the late Dr. Katherine Harper, a nuclear medicine pioneer.

"Vi was an integral part of those key studies," according to Dr. Chin-Tu Chen, an associate professor in the university's department of radiology, a student in the late 1970s when Ms. Stark became his research instructor.

"She would patiently teach a new student like myself or a new technologist to conduct the animal or imaging experiments," Chin-Tu said via e-mail while traveling in China. "Many trainees and young researchers who later became PhD and/or M.D.'s had been trained by her to conduct the critical and key studies using nuclear medicine imaging techniques and benefited tremendously from her skillful support and teaching."

Ms. Stark's mother died after giving birth to her, prompting her father to place her and her two brothers in foster care.

Ms. Stark was placed with a cousin of the grandfather of Cleo Esser, her lifelong friend. When the cousin died, Esser's grandmother, who lived on the North Side, decided to temporarily care for the toddler, but instead raised her through adulthood.

"Once Vi came into my grandmother's home, everybody fell in love with her," Esser said. "Her father and aunt came and saw her every weekend.

"She was very quiet, very intelligent. She never had a bad word to say about anyone. Ever. And if someone did say a bad word, she would give you a look. She was wonderful, wonderful."

Ms. Stark began immersing herself in music in the 1970s when she joined the University of Chicago and Grant Park Choruses.

"She was a very, very special person who had a very clear and pure soprano," said Diane Wallace, a former fellow soprano.

She also was a longtime member of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago and its choir, said Rev. Nina D. Grey, its senior minister. When Grey arrived at the church six years ago, she had a broken wrist. Ms. Stark came every day to help her unpack.

"Vi was a delight," Grey said. "She never talked about herself. Even when she was dying, she was much more likely to ask how you were ... it was all about you, not about her."

In her final days, fellow members of University of Chicago Hyde Park Shape-Note Singers visited her. At her request, during her memorial service they will sing her favorite psalm tune, "Jordan," composed by William Billings.

Other survivors include her brothers, Kenneth and William; her lifelong friend, Gloria Rauens and her two children.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday in the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, 5650 S. Woodlawn Ave.